Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell raises $17.7 million for reelection

Oct. 12, 2013

McConnell / AP

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The Courier-Journal

U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s campaign announced Friday that it had raised nearly $2.3 million in the last quarter, increasing the haul for his 2014 re-election campaign to $17.7 million, keeping him on pace to raise more than any U.S. Senate candidate in Kentucky’s history.

“We are running a presidential-level campaign designed to withstand the millions of dollars in attack ads coming from out-of-state groups and deliver Sen. McConnell’s message to Kentucky voters,” said McConnell campaign manager Jesse Benton.

His opponent in the Republican primary, Louisville businessman Matt Bevin, also announced that he has raised more than $822,000 during his first quarter of fundraising. That includes $600,000 of his own money.

In a statement, Bevin’s campaign noted that it is on schedule to raise more than Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, did in their first three months of fundraising.

Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, hasn’t released totals for the July 1-Sept. 30 quarter yet. Jonathan Hurst, a political adviser, said she plans to release those numbers next week.

Grimes’ campaign went on the offensive criticizing McConnell’s fundraising at a time when the federal government is shut down.

“As the most unpopular Washington politician in the country, Senator McConnell is clearly more worried about the money in his campaign war chest than the U.S. Treasury,” Hurst said in a statement. “Rather than leading and negotiating to get our government back open, McConnell is focused on fundraising. ... It is no wonder he has had to spend an exorbitant amount of money.”

If he keeps up at the current pace, McConnell is assured to break the record of $21 million he raised and spent in his 2008 6 percentage point victory over Democrat Bruce Lunsford.

McConnell’s campaign said that during the quarter, McConnell received contributions from nearly 6,000 people with a median contribution of about $50.

The campaign didn’t respond to a request for the percentage of contributions that came from Kentucky. A Courier-Journal investigation of contributions to his campaign and to political action committees with ties to him found that nearly 90 percent of contributions came from outside the state.

“Sen. McConnell enjoys broad support from Kentuckians and Americans from all backgrounds and walks of life who appreciate his hard work and principled conservative leadership,” Benton said in a statement.

The campaign said McConnell has about $10 million on hand — about the same amount he had at the end of the last quarter — meaning he has spent more than $7 million so far on the election.

During the quarter, McConnell ran three television ads and one radio ad. He is currently on the air with a radio ad blaming Democrats for the government shutdown.

The most recent radio ad premiered on the same day NBC and The Wall Street Journal released polling data that show 53 percent of Americans blame Republicans in Congress for the government shutdown and only 31 percent blame President Barack Obama for it.